Last week, more than 400 TV showrunners, writers and producers called on streaming giants and traditional Hollywood studios to offer improved protections for workers in states where abortions are banned or limited. Now, 594 other industry figures (many, if not all of whom are male) have pledged their support, as Variety reports. They include Jordan Peele, Taika Waititi, Jason Sudekis, Ryan Murphy, Donald Glover and JJ Abrams.

The signatories said they were standing in solidarity with their “female, trans and non-binary showrunner colleagues [...] in demanding a coordinated and timely response from our employers regarding the imminent workplace-safety crisis created by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Abortion access doesn’t only affect people who can become pregnant. It affects us all."

In late June, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that conferred a nationwide right to abortion for almost half a century. Numerous states banned or severely restricted abortion access after the decision.

The initial letter was signed by the likes of Issa Rae, Lilly Wachowski, Lena Waithe, Amy Schumer, Shonda Rhimes, Mindy Kaling and Ava DuVernay. It was sent to Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Apple, NBC Universal, Amazon, Lionsgate and AMC.

The more than 1,000 industry figures who sent the letters are calling for details about studios' abortion travel subsidies, care policies for “ectopic pregnancies and other pregnancy complications” that occur during a production and legal safeguards for those who help a production worker get an abortion. The signatories also demanded that studios “discontinue all political donations to anti-abortion candidates and political action committees immediately.”

Those who signed the letters want the studios to respond by August 10th. The letters did not detail what may happen if the companies don't reply by then. Studios have previously said they would reimburse travel expenses for those who had to leave a state to get an abortion.

Thanks to its generous tax incentives for film and TV productions, Georgia has become a powerhouse in the entertainment industry, which is worth billions of dollars to the local economy. In 2019, several studios, including Netflix, said they'd reconsider setting up projects in the state if a so-called heartbeat law came into effect (the legislation bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected). A federal appeals court allowed the law to take effect last month.

A federal judge refused to remove Visa from a lawsuit that alleges it aided MindGeek — the parent company of Pornhub — in monetizing child porn. In a decision issued on July 29th, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney accuses the payment processor of refusing to cut business ties with MindGeek, despite being aware that Pornhub and other MindGeek-owned pornography sites distributed child pornography. The lawsuit was filed by a woman whose underage videos were posted on Pornhub without her permission.

“If Visa was aware that there was a substantial amount of child porn on MindGeek’s sites, which the Court must accept as true at this stage of the proceedings, then it was aware that it was processing the monetization of child porn, moving money from advertisers to MindGeek for advertisements playing alongside child porn like Plaintiff’s videos,” wrote Judge Carney.

Visa has argued that it is an “improper defendant” in the case and does not tolerate illegal activity. “Visa condemns sex trafficking, sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse materials as repugnant to our values and purpose as a company. This pre-trial ruling is disappointing and mischaracterizes Visa’s role and its policies and practices. Visa will not tolerate the use of our network for illegal activity. We continue to believe that Visa is an improper defendant in this case,” a Visa spokesperson wrote in a statement to Variety.

Pornhub and other MindGeek-owned porn sites regularly feature nonconsensual or underage porn videos, according to recent reporting in both the New Yorker and the New York Times. MindGeek has maintained that it has protocols in place to prevent the posting and reposting of such illegal material on its site. In 2020, MindGeek banned all unverified users from posting on its sites and removed millions of uploaded videos in the aftermath. In order to post on any MindGeek properties, a user must submit their government ID to a third-party firm and verify their identity. 

 “When the court can actually consider the facts, we are confident the plaintiff’s claims will be dismissed for lack of merit. MindGeek has zero tolerance for the posting of illegal content on its platforms, and has instituted the most comprehensive safeguards in user-generated platform history,” a MindGeek spokesperson wrote to Variety. 

The Montreal-based company has been in disarray following years of media attention over what critics believe is a flawed moderation process that allows illegal content to thrive on its porn sites. Both the CEO and COO of MindGeek abruptly resigned in June. The company also laid off an unspecified number of employees this summer.

Sega fans who plan to buy the Genesis Mini 2 will need to import the retro console from Japan. What’s more, the company estimates it will have approximately one-tenth of the stock that it had during the Genesis Mini launch in 2019 to sell to US and European consumers. Sega blamed the situation on the ongoing global semiconductor shortage.

A Sega spokesperson told Polygon the company had initially planned to release the Genesis Mini 2 only in Japan, but that by “using Amazon’s ‘Japan Store’ system, we found that at least a small number of units could be sold via Amazon.com, so a portion was allocated to make the North American version.” With $22 shipping from the country, US consumers can expect to pay about $125 to import the retro console once it's available on October 27th.

That’s a hefty price hike considering the original Genesis Mini launched at a more affordable $80. The new console will feature over 50 titles, including Sonic CD, Virtua Racing, OutRun, Shining Force CD and Fantasy Zone. Judging by the packaging, it will also come with a six-button controller. One of the few complaints we had with the original was that it came with a cramped three-button gamepad.

It's not only Twitter that's trying to force Elon Musk to buy the company for $44 billion. An investor filed a proposed class action lawsuit to try stopping Musk from backing out of the deal. Luigi Crispo's suit accuses Musk of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty to Twitter's shareholders, according to Bloomberg. It claims he offered feeble "rationales for reneging on his contract." Two “corporate acquisition entities” connected to the deal are also named as defendants.

Musk last month attempted to wash his hands of his bid to buy Twitter, claiming the company made “false and misleading representations” and that it misrepresented the number of bots and fake accounts on its platform. Crispo concurred with Twitter's claims that Musk is using false claims about bots and spam to wriggle out of the deal without a valid legal standing to do so. Also like Twitter, Crispo is seeking a court order that would require Musk to complete the buyout.

After he tried to back out, Twitter swiftly sued Musk in an attempt to make him "honor his obligations" and buy the company. Last week, Musk made a counter filing, which remains sealed for now. A judge granted Twitter's request for an expedited trial, which is scheduled to start on October 17th and last for five days. Its shareholders will vote on the takeover on September 13th.

Meanwhile, Crispo holds 5,500 shares in Twitter. Those are worth nearly $300,000 at the $54.20 per-share offer Musk made to buy Twitter outright back in April. The shares are currently worth $223,000 at Twitter's current share price, which was $40.55 at the time of writing.

Microsoft is taking an interesting approach to secure regulatory approval for its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In a recent filing spotted by Rock Paper Shotgun, the company told New Zealand’s Commerce Commission the troubled publisher produces no “must have” games. Yes, you read that right.

“There is nothing unique about the video games developed and published by Activision Blizzard that is a ‘must have’ for rival PC and console video game distributors that give rise to a foreclosure concern,” the company says in the document. Put another way, Microsoft believes owning the rights to best-selling Activision Blizzard franchises like Call of Duty won’t prevent rivals like Sony from competing against it.

At first glance, that would seem to be a nonsensical argument to make about a company Microsoft plans to spend $68.7 billion to acquire. All the same, it’s a claim the tech giant is making in response to its rivals. In a filing with Brazilian regulators, Sony called Call of Duty “an essential game” and an AAA title “that has no rival.” It argues the franchise is so popular that it influences the consoles people buy. Sony is likely speaking from experience. In 2015, the company announced an agreement with Activision that saw some Call of Duty content arrive on PlayStation consoles first.

Downplaying the importance of Call of Duty is just one of the ways Microsoft has tried to placate regulators. In February, the company pledged it would continue to make the franchise available on PlayStation consoles beyond the end of any agreements Sony and Activision had in place before the acquisition was announced. More recently, the company announced a labor neutrality agreement with the Communications Workers of America, which has been organizing video game workers across the industry.

It’s 2022 and Spotify is adding the most basic of functions to its iOS and Android apps: dedicated play and shuffle buttons on playlists and album pages. Until now, tapping the button on most playlists started playback with shuffle mode enabled. To play tracks in order, you’d need to tap an individual song.

The split play and shuffle buttons will only be available to Spotify Premium subscribers. While at first glance it might seem odd to only grant paying members access to the separate icons, it makes sense. Beyond select playlists, free users are only able to use Spotify in shuffle-only mode on mobile (this doesn’t apply to the desktop or tablet app). In the coming weeks, Spotify will roll out the separate play and shuffle buttons, which really should have been baked into the app from the jump.

Last year, Adele pressured the streaming platform to remove the shuffle button from albums. She argued that albums should be listened to in order, in the way artists intended. It seems Spotify agreed, as it started displaying only a regular play button for albums — though it's bringing the shuffle button back to those pages with the latest update.

Sony plans to remove a software feature many PlayStation 5 users may not know even exists. In fall 2022, the company will discontinue support for Accolades. As the name suggests, Accolades allow you to commend players you meet online for sportsmanship and good behavior. Sony launched the feature alongside the PS5 but now plans to remove it as it’s not widely used.

“The feature hasn’t seen the level of usage we anticipated, so we are refocusing our efforts,” the company says in a notice spotted by Eurogamer. “We encourage the community to continue to send positive messages to one another." It’s not surprising to see Sony make the decision to do away with Accolades. Many online games, including Overwatch, feature built-in systems for rewarding welcoming and supportive players. It also didn’t help that you had to dig through the PS5’s Ribbon UI to find the menu for awarding commendations.

Sony

While many modern TVs already have streaming services baked in, you might still need (or want) a dedicated device for accessing the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The Chromecast with Google TV is a solid option and it's currently on sale once again at a record low price of $40. That's $10 less than it typically costs.

We gave the device a score of 86 in our review after being impressed with the voice remote. The dongle has Google Assistant support, of course, and along with telling a smart speaker what you want to watch, you can simply bark instructions at the remote. It's a cinch to navigate the Google TV interface with the remote, which includes dedicated buttons for launching YouTube and Netflix. In addition, the dongle provides access to YouTube TV, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+ and HBO Max, among many other streaming services. There's support for 4K HDR content, as well as Dolby Vision and Atmos.

You can also use the device to play games through Google Stadia if you have a compatible controller. Despite recent rumors to the contrary, Google has said Stadia isn't going away. On top of that, you'll have the option to effectively use your TV as a smart display when you're not streaming something. Chromecast with Google TV can show live feeds from some security cameras, display weather forecasts and help you control smart home devices, all with the aid of Google Assistant. The Ambient Mode, meanwhile, can display your Google Photos when you're not actively watching, playing or listening to anything.

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Solo Stove's fire pits have been a staple of Engadget buyers guides for a while now. They burn wood with incredible efficiency and minimal smoke. Plus, they're nearly indestructible and come with a lifetime warranty. I personally purchased a Bonfire model last year and couldn't be happier. My one complaint (other than price) is that it's a giant pain to clean. After a couple of fires you have to pick the whole thing up and turn it upside down into a garbage bag to get the ash out. And I'm sure it's far worse for anyone that went with Solo Stove's largest model — the 40-pound Yukon. 

The Fire Pit 2.0 lineup solves this massive headache by introducing a removable base plate and ash pan. After the pit has cooled down you just reach in, lift up the base plate then remove the ash pan and dump it out. I've been testing the new Bonfire 2.0 side by side with my OG model and confirm that this is a huge improvement. Some ash will inevitably get in the space under the ash pan— it doesn't quite reach to the edges of the nook it's nestled into. But it's easy enough to vacuum that little bit out with a dust buster or something.  

Solo Stove

Most importantly Solo Stove hasn't changed anything its 360° Signature Airflow Technology. I had some slight concerns that changes to the bottom of the pit would mess with airflow and result in a less efficient burn, but that's not the case. I'm still rarely left with even a splinter at that end of a fire and smoke is barely an issue once it gets roaring. All the original accessories still work with the new models too.

The other thing that hasn't changed is price. Solo Stoves aren't cheap, and I was admittedly a little skeptical when I decided to splurge on one last year, but honestly it's a far better investment than a $99 fire pit from home depot that will just need to be replaced in a year or two — especially if you pick one up on sale. Right now the entire lineup is up to 45-percent off with the Solo Stove Ranger 2.0 going for $230, the Bonfire 2.0 $260 and the Yukon $460. 

Solo Stove

If you missed out on picking up Jabra's Elite 7 Pro noise-canceling earbuds when they got a 30 percent price cut a month ago, you might actually be in luck. They're currently on sale for $130, which is $70 off the regular price. That's the lowest price we've seen for the earbuds to date — it's $10 less than what they were selling for just ahead of Prime Day.

Jabra positioned the Elite 7 Pro, which it announced almost a year ago, as the successor to the Elite 85t. Those earbuds were previously the brand's smallest model, but the Elite 7 Pro is now the holder of that title. Even so, Jabra has squeezed in bone conduction tech that works with microphones and algorithms in an effort to improve voice quality.

When it comes to battery life, Jabra claims the earbuds can run for nine hours with active noise cancellation enabled. That rises to 11 hours if ANC is turned off. The case offers up to three additional full charges.

In January, Jabra released an update that brought Bluetooth multipoint connectivity to Elite 7 Pro. This allows you to connect to two devices at the same time and switch between them seamlessly (such as when you receive a call on your phone while listening to music on your computer).

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